Food and Drinks in theme parks

[Levithian]

all chips, thick or thin, should be hot, crispy and lightly salted. It makes them perfect to mopping up burger juice. If they are soggy..... well.... what's the point? might as well be eating mash.

[grrofunger]

41 minutes ago, xRazzBerryx said:

Yes! Have been there and it was well worth it ??

I went to The Flying Cock last night in Fortitude Valley. It came with a massive serve of chips & sauce. $18 for the lot. @joz This is what the chips should look like ??

 

 

That looks pretty good !

Place looks nice and dark too.

[Brad2912]

Agree Gazza, Longboards at the Nightquarter at Helensvale is awesome, in fact the Nightquarter in its entirety is brilliant 

[xRazzBerryx]

1 hour ago, Levithian said:

all chips, thick or thin, should be hot, crispy and lightly salted. It makes them perfect to mopping up burger juice. If they are soggy..... well.... what's the point? might as well be eating mash.

Totally agree. The ones I had were crispy & had a great seasoning. 

2 hours ago, westical said:

Those aren't chips.

I just call fries, chips haha. I should have said FRIES, sorry.
 

2 hours ago, pin142 said:

Those look like your standard fries from a place like maccas. Proper chips are thick cut and if the place really gives a shit they do them from scrach.

I guess they do look like Maccas fries, however looks & taste are a big difference. Also, not sure if it is just me.. but i prefer the long crispy fries rather than the thicker chips haha

 

1 hour ago, grrofunger said:

Place looks nice and dark too.

Heard Movie World were using it for their new Dark Ride they are getting!

Edited January 24, 2016 by xRazzBerryx

[pushbutton]

Shame if McDonalds are already downgrading their Create Your Taste menu (and it certainly looks like they are from my observations). I don't want to fill this thread with details because it's nothing to do with theme parks, but it's just disppointing that McDonalds Australia came up with something which led the company throughout the rest of the world, and revolutionised the way they do business, and then after just a few months they have:

- Stopped having waiters and now just use general crew to serve the meals. They're untrained and it really shows!

- Stopped prioritising Create Your Taste to the point where it can take up to 20 minutes to be served.

- Stopped using the pager style "locators" and even the clipboard menus on the tables

- and now no longer serving fries in baskets

I could go on but I won't. It was good while it lasted!

Edited January 24, 2016 by pushbutton

[Brad2912]

They never had waiters. They were the cafe staff or management delivering the food in a 'launch' outfit. What specialised training in addition to the regular training McDonalds provides do you want these 'waiters' to receive? Are they not just dropping off your food?

CYT is still prioritised in every store I've eaten at. The buzzers are still used. Menus on table were a stupid idea anyways when you order at the touchscreen. 

[Spotty]

The Menu's on the tables for CYT were used for the first 6 months or so of the roll out so that people who might not have ordered it would see it and have a look and decide "Hey, this looks good I might try this next year". Every store I have been to except Annerley in Brisbane (which is a flagship store complete with a burger bar and CYT Breakfast) the buzzers have never worked from day one. The longest I have ever waited for a CYT burger was 20 minutes but that's because they had about 6 orders before mine to be made and they use a dedicated grill that is different to the others. 

I don't see the issue with them not having a dedicated crew member for CYT handing out the food as a lot of the time they might not have orders so if they are designated to that role only it doesn't leave them much to do. As part of that role they were also in charge of the dining room making sure that it is clean. But every time i've been to a store as soon as I have left my table after ordering they pretty much straight away clean up the table. As far as the chips not being served in the metal baskets it's not really a big loss. In fact my local store and a few others that I have been to lately have actually been serving the fries (and sauces if you order them) in white ceramic bowls. In particular the loaded fries when ordered with CYT have actually had real bits of bacon chopped up instead of the fake bacon they came with when first launched.

I guess when there was all the hype they thought they needed dedicated staff just for delivering food, and whilst it has been very successful I don't think it was really needed except maybe in peak times. Clearly McDonalds have realised this and deployed the dedicated CYT staff into other areas of the store to assist in between delivering orders.

Anyway, back onto the topic of theme park food instead of McDonalds

[pin142]

Until recently at a few stores never seen the pager style locators used when doing CYT. Seems kind of pointless with clipboard and receipt setup that was used when first started at stores. The wait seems normal too, expect a 15 minute wait when doing it for eat in.

The baskets for fries can be hit and miss but later at night can't blame them for using the take away packaging.

[pushbutton]

Ok. Hopefully they're not giving up on the concept, but just fine tuning it. Now I just need to look up Annerley on Google maps (what's different about the CYT breakfast?)!

Back to the parks........

Edited January 24, 2016 by pushbutton

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

11 hours ago, xRazzBerryx said:

I just call fries, chips haha. I should have said FRIES, sorry.

Don't be sorry. All of Australia calls them chips... As does UK. Americans call them fries...

 

[pushbutton]

I take back my earlier comments. Having breakfast at Annerley and all I can say is WOW!

[Spotty]

1 hour ago, pushbutton said:

I take back my earlier comments. Having breakfast at Annerley and all I can say is WOW!

Yeah... it's a bit of a change to normal McDonalds  The burger bar is a great concept too where you can actually see all the ingredients and watch them make your burgers.

[pushbutton]

So back to the topic then.

 

What I think we really need in all the theme parks is a McDonald's (of Annerley quality)!

[grrofunger]

How is the lighting in McDonalds Annerley?

[pushbutton]

Similar to that in most other McDonald's. Modern and very good. 

[Reanimated35]

18 hours ago, pushbutton said:

Shame if McDonalds are already downgrading their Create Your Taste menu (and it certainly looks like they are from my observations). I don't want to fill this thread with details because it's nothing to do with theme parks, but it's just disppointing that McDonalds Australia came up with something which led the company throughout the rest of the world, and revolutionised the way they do business, and then after just a few months they have:

- Stopped having waiters and now just use general crew to serve the meals. They're untrained and it really shows!

- Stopped prioritising Create Your Taste to the point where it can take up to 20 minutes to be served.

- Stopped using the pager style "locators" and even the clipboard menus on the tables

- and now no longer serving fries in baskets

I could go on but I won't. It was good while it lasted!

During rollout of CYT, most stores hired additional staff due to the expected increase in demand. In a lot of stores there was no formal training, however they did prefer to hire people with previous experience waiting tables, however this was not a requirement and wasn't something training was provided for.

CYT aren't prioritised as such, however are made in a different section of the kitchen. (Having been in a maccas kitchen years ago I'm amazed they found room) This section would usually have 1-2 people specifically rostered on to do nothing but CYT orders. A lot of stores now don't actually roster people for it unless it's a really busy night as the hype has died down. This has resulted in longer than previous wait times. If I'm not mistaken however, the KPI for a CYT order is 15-20 minutes. 

The baskets would be a case of:

> Laziness
> Not enough to go around
> None clean (basically as above)
> Almost close time and they're all being/have already been cleaned

As for pagers, I'm not 100% sure, but I think a few stores had issues and some I guess found an easier way for them to do it. 

[djmcbell]

Y'know, all of the pictures that I've seen here look really nice.

This is going to sound odd but, in my short visit to parks in Australia, I still haven't eaten any of the food. I went with my sister and her family, and my mum too, and we took packed lunches in. However, the meals shown here do look great.

From my experience, UK parks (still in the UK, got the visas though) leave a lot to be desired. Normally the main option is about £5, if not more, for an absolutely awful burger (a soggy beef patty that's barely 5mm thick, normally with a load of gherkin, in a tiny bun) with "fries" that are even more flexible than the ones we get at KFC, and Coke which I'm pretty sure has more water in it than Coke. Fortunately Pleasure Beach has a Burger King on site, but I really wanted this picked up at Lightwater Valley. Where I live, there's a market nearby which sells HUGE portions of loads of things, like popcorn chicken, curly fries, chicken goujons etc. for £2. If they could get this into the park and even double the price if they wanted, people would still flock to it.

American parks - again, mainly fast food options. We did have a very nice sit-down meal in Busch Gardens Tampa a while back but on later visits, especially around Six Flags parks, we found that a lot of the more sit-down meal places were shut which lead us back to having to have burger and fries, or a sub.

The only other place I can speak of was Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi where they more or less coated the fries in salt. Pretty sure one fry was composed entirely of salt.

As for places in general - I seem to recall fast food places here in the UK started doing salads a few years back, but have now stopped. Why? And also, as one veggie friend attests, McDonalds seem to have stopped doing their veggie burgers so now there's no vegetarian options.

I did like the idea though that Lightwater Valley did start doing (I think) which was jacket potato and soup. Unsure how that would work in Australia. Also, Busch Gardens Williamsburg and their Irish stew was different.

[pushbutton]

8 hours ago, djmcbell said:

Y'know, all of the pictures that I've seen here look really nice.

This is going to sound odd but, in my short visit to parks in Australia, I still haven't eaten any of the food. I went with my sister and her family, and my mum too, and we took packed lunches in. However, the meals shown here do look great.

From my experience, UK parks (still in the UK, got the visas though) leave a lot to be desired. Normally the main option is about £5, if not more, for an absolutely awful burger (a soggy beef patty that's barely 5mm thick, normally with a load of gherkin, in a tiny bun) with "fries" that are even more flexible than the ones we get at KFC, and Coke which I'm pretty sure has more water in it than Coke. Fortunately Pleasure Beach has a Burger King on site, but I really wanted this picked up at Lightwater Valley. Where I live, there's a market nearby which sells HUGE portions of loads of things, like popcorn chicken, curly fries, chicken goujons etc. for £2. If they could get this into the park and even double the price if they wanted, people would still flock to it.

American parks - again, mainly fast food options. We did have a very nice sit-down meal in Busch Gardens Tampa a while back but on later visits, especially around Six Flags parks, we found that a lot of the more sit-down meal places were shut which lead us back to having to have burger and fries, or a sub.

The only other place I can speak of was Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi where they more or less coated the fries in salt. Pretty sure one fry was composed entirely of salt.

As for places in general - I seem to recall fast food places here in the UK started doing salads a few years back, but have now stopped. Why? And also, as one veggie friend attests, McDonalds seem to have stopped doing their veggie burgers so now there's no vegetarian options.

I did like the idea though that Lightwater Valley did start doing (I think) which was jacket potato and soup. Unsure how that would work in Australia. Also, Busch Gardens Williamsburg and their Irish stew was different.

You should make the trip to Alton Towers before you leave Britain, and try the food there. 

Some of it's fairly standard admittedly (there's 3 Burger King outlets in the park, and 2 Pizza Huts), but there's also a great choice of higher quality options. I can recommend one of those but can't think of the name of it lol!

[djmcbell]

Heh - we went to Alton Towers last year and spent ages looking round the park for a place to eat. Yes, there were higher quality options, but as soon as they opened they were jammed full of people. In the end we were going to a fish and chip place, which was shut, so we plumped for... yes, a burger.

[pushbutton]

Just came across this video and thought it would be absolutely perfect for Movie World.

Could be great in any theme park of course, but as it demonstrates incredible new visual technology it would be best at Movie World. I would suggest in a new restaurant at the front of the park (where the old Stars bar used to be). Ideally in a new purpose-built building.

Other possibilities would be a restaurant inside TopGolf, or the Movie World hotel.

I await the childish nitpicking and sarcastic remarks, and "expert" financial anaysis from the usual suspects (which is just very boring), but thought I'd post this anyway as some people might find it interesting, and who knows - that might include people who could potentially make this happen!

Edited December 5, 2017 by pushbutton

[pin142]

Here's the original video for that which includes links to other things they have done.
 

Biggest issue I would have with it is it would be a once and not return thing. I can appreciate what they are trying to do but outside of bringing others to see it there is no real appeal to me to visit multiple times.

[pushbutton]

Fair enough. Many people would go to Australian Outback Spectacular once then not return because "I've done that now". I've been many times. Just a personal preference I think. For that matter, the same could be said for rides. A few of my friends won't go on rides because they've been on them, and consider they've had the experience and see no need to repeat it  (even though they say they enjoyed it). I have been on most rides many times but still enjoy them.

Also though, the content of such 3d projection can be changed from time to time to keep it fresh and give people a new experience. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

7 hours ago, pushbutton said:

Just came across this video and thought it would be absolutely perfect for Movie World.

Could be great in any theme park of course, but as it demonstrates incredible new visual technology it would be best at Movie World. I would suggest in a new restaurant at the front of the park (where the old Stars bar used to be). Ideally in a new purpose-built building.

Look - the other day, Skeeta mentioned a 0.001% miracle idea opportunity - and today is the day you have that 0.001%. Its a great idea. I don't think Stars is the right fit for it - the ceiling is pretty low - although these days ultra short throw projection is possible, so who knows. I'd prefer it go into Rick's, with a complete redo of the building inside and out... but that's just my opinion.

A friend of mine does projection mapping on his own house for christmas time, so if one guy in a garage can do it, surely MW could achieve it relatively easily.

 

..and then you go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like...

7 hours ago, pushbutton said:

I await the childish nitpicking and sarcastic remarks, and "expert" financial anaysis from the usual suspects (which is just very boring), but thought I'd post this anyway as some people might find it interesting, and who knows - that might include people who could potentially make this happen!

If you didn't whine so much, just expressed your opinion \responded to opposing views instead of complaining how you're treated you might just enjoy yourself more.

2 hours ago, pushbutton said:

Fair enough. Many people would go to Australian Outback Spectacular once then not return because "I've done that now". I've been many times. Just a personal preference I think. For that matter, the same could be said for rides. A few of my friends won't go on rides because they've been on them, and consider they've had the experience and see no need to repeat it  (even though they say they enjoyed it). I have been on most rides many times but still enjoy them.

Also though, the content of such 3d projection can be changed from time to time to keep it fresh and give people a new experience. 

Like Alton Towers, we all very much know that you like, and visit it often. Thanks for the reminder though.

Like most people, I've been to AOS a couple of times, and only ever when there is a different show to the last time - and I think that would be the case for most. You've hit the nail on the head that the mapping would be successful if it were different. You could even offer several different 'experiences' (shit, maybe Dreamworld should do it instead) on a menu at the front, so that when you are seated, it can be a different experience every time? It wouldn't be hard to automate a system for the wait staff to seat you, offer you your menu, and then when you've selected your experience, press a touch screen to cue it up.

Generics, with seasonal offerings (an easy halloween and christmas generic would be perfect to start), and then you could also work on developing IP related experiences too - similar to the Arkham VR - you could have various DC experiences, Looney Tunes, Scooby Doo.. You could even have one developed around HWSD - where cars use your table as a race circuit.

I think if they opened with one or two, and then slowly developed new ones every 6 months or so until they had a roster of about 10 to pick and choose from, and then seasonally or every couple of years they could refresh some of the least popular films with new ones (since they'd have usage stats on which ones are being watched more often).

It would also 'bring the movies' back to the park - you could even do an experience where a film crew comes out onto the table, and sets up a film shoot!

[pushbutton]

I was thinking of a new building to replace the "Stars" building, unless the existing building turned out to be ideal.

I should add that I'd consider this a "premium experience" and I'd expect to pay considerably more than I would for a similar meal in a normal restaurant. 

I'd be happy to! 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

BUT IT SHOULD BE FREE!